Investigation: former executive director of School Nutrition Association took thousands of dollars

A special investigation by the State Auditor’s office finds the former executive director of the School Nutrition Association (SNA) of Iowa was taking lunch money from schools across the state.

State Auditor Mary Mosiman says her office stepped in at the request of the organization. “Board members of the School Nutrition Association became concerned about three years ago when Miss Norma LaMantia — the former executive director — did not provide certain financial information that they had requested on a number of occasions,” Mosiman explains.

She says LaMantia is from Davenport and worked out of here home in representing the organization. “Our investigation identified almost $167,000 of undeposited collections. The collections include checks that had been submitted to or collected by Miss LaMantia for the association,” Mosiman says.

The audit found LaMantia deposited the checks in personal bank accounts or bank accounts she established in a name which caused them to appear to be held by the SNA. The disbursements from the bank accounts to which the checks were deposited were personal in nature.

Mosiman says the bank accounts LaMantia established were not authorized by the Association and Association officials were not aware of the bank accounts. “We did work with the Davenport Police Department, so a copy of our report was filed with the Davenport police as well as the Scott County Attorney’s Office, as well as the DCI and AG’s office,” she says. The audit covered transactions from July 1st, 2015 through June 30th, 2017.

LaMantia signed a resignation letter dated June 30th, 2016 after SNA officials confronted her about their concerns.